The present invention relates to a method of and a device for cooling a partial oxidation gas produced in a reactor vessel, particularly by partial oxidation of coal having high contents of inerts and/or of other carbon carriers having a high proportion of inorganic impurities. The inner surface of the reactor vessel is lined with a fireproof layer The outlet part of the reactor vessel has a conically converging configuration and communicates with a cylindrical cooling zone. The partial oxidation gas produced in the reactor flows at a temperature between 1,000.degree. and 1,700.degree. C. through the outlet portion into the cooling zone where a stream of cooling medium is injected into the stream of the partial oxidation gas.
During partial oxidation of coal and/or other carbon carriers at temperatures above the slag or sinder melting point, the partial oxidation gas exiting the reactor vessel at a temperature between 1,200.degree. and 1,700.degree. C. entrains molten or sticky solid particles, hence in the further processing of the gas care must be taken that the accompanying sticky impurites do not impair the subsequent processing due to their deposition on the walls of the employed apparatuses, on the surfaces of heat exchangers and/or within the pipes. To meet this objective, attempts have already been made to admix within the cooling zone succeeding the reactor vessel a cooling liquid with hot partial oxidation gas in such a manner that the latter and the impurities entrained therein could be cooled down without permitting the not yet solidified, sticky particles in the gas stream to land on the inner walls of the cooling zone hence to form depositions thereon. For example, from German publication DE-OS No. 35 24 802 a method of cooling a hot, sticky particles containing product gas is known wherein ring shaped stream of a cooling fluid is injected into the product gas in the cooling zone such that the stream has the shape of a truncated cone converging in the direction of the gas stream.
However, the known measures are limited exclusively to the treatment of the partial oxidation gas within the cooling zone connected to the outlet of the reactor vessel. In practice it has been found that in the transition region from the reactor vessel to the cooling zone deposits of incident sticky particles have occurred which cannot be avoided through the measures within the cooling zone, particularly during the partial oxidation of coal rich in inerts and/or other carbon carrying substances having a high proportion of unorganic impurities. The unavoidable growth of such deposits leads to the obstruction of the passage of the gas into the cooling zone and into the subsequently added processing devices. Consequently, the entire plant may become non-functional.